In order to make wage equality between women and men effective, employers of at least 50 employees are obliged to measure pay gaps and to negotiate or establish catch-up measures within 3 years. Failing this, they will be face sanctions. This obligation will come into force by 1 January 2019 for companies with more than 250 employees and 1 January 2020 for companies with 50 to 250 employees. Decrees specifying the rules of application are expected shortly.

A succession of fixed-term employment contracts, with no waiting period (“gap”) between each contract, is lawful, for the same employee and the same position, only if each contract has been concluded for the one of the reasons provided for by the Labor Code, namely the replacement of an absent employee, a seasonal contract, or, finally, a “contrat d’usage”.

Non-executive employees may not claim, on the basis of equal treatment, the payment of a 13th month bonus that was reserved for executives, no matter the modalities of hte payment. This bonus is linked to annual remuneration paid in exchange for the work performed, and in this respect, executives and non-executives are not placed in an identical situation.

A new law that aims to improve the dynamics between civil society and the public administration ( «un État au service d’une société de confiance ») aims to put in place the right to rectify one’s mistakes vis-à-vis the administration. This allows the individual to escape financial sanctions or avoid being punished by having benefits revoked. The law provides for a control by the administration

An employee dismissed by the director of the parent company overseeing its activities is valid, since the latter is not completely detached from the subsidiary. This holds true even in the absence of any written delegation of authority.

A recently passed law creates new measures to combat sexual harassment. Companies with at least 250 employees will have to appoint a point of contact for sexual harassment and sexist behavior (in practice it may be the human resources manager). In addition, the law reinforces the posting requirements in this area. A decree to be issued must set the conditions for the application of these measures, which will come into force by 1 January 2019

When a first mutually agreed termination agreement is refused by the labour administration (Direccte), the new agreement entered into by the employer and employee requires a new, separate cooling off period of 15 days. The employer must absolutely respect this period before sending the new agreement to the Direccte for approval

A bill to be debated in Parliament in the fall plans to reform the impact of crossingheadcount thresholds. It provides, inter alia, for harmonizing the method of calculation of the number of staff and granting a five-year period, once the staffing threshold has been reached, to meet the corresponding obligations. A number of obligations related to the threshold of 20 employees would be transferred to companies with more than 50 employees

Even if a situation of co-employment cannot be characterized, the tort of the parent company or the main shareholder can be engaged by the employees when the decisions of these authorities, taken at the expense of the interests of the subsidiary, have irreparably damaged its economic health and contributed to the loss of jobs. The Court of Cassation, which had already embarked on this course in 2014, recalls the principle and its limits in several judgments delivered on May 24, 2018

The government wishes to encourage employee savings plans in small and medium sized companies. Several measures in this respect will be announced shortly, such as the lifting of the forfaitsocial on savings or profit-sharing for certain companies as well as the implementation of branch employee savings agreements that the employer can adhere to.